


In Retrospect

by Aspireeverything



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Getting Together, Love Confessions, M/M, Merlin is a Little Shit, Miscommunication, stuck in closets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 08:10:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6696838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aspireeverything/pseuds/Aspireeverything
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We should talk about it.”</p><p>“Nope.”</p><p>“Eggsy.”</p><p>“Nope.”</p><p>“I hardly think that that’s very gentlemanly of you.”</p><p>“Don’t give a shit. The answer is still a big, fat nope.”</p><p>or the one where Harry and Eggsy get stuck in a closet during a mission and some truth comes out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Retrospect

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, you lovely people!
> 
> This work is extremely self-indulgent (but if we're being honest, which of my works aren't self-indulgent?).
> 
> These two have quite easily become by favorite pairing and Merlin acting like a little shit over the comms and being a bit of a matchmaker will never cease to bring me joy.
> 
> As usual, all mistakes are unfortunately my own and if you see any, please don't hesitate to let me know!

“This is...this is weird. Are we not going to talk about how this is weird?” 

 

“It wasn’t weird until you said it was weird.”

 

“ _ Oh no, it was most definitely weird before that.”  _

 

“Thank you for your well needed input, Merlin.” Harry sighed, wishing he had the arm room to remove his glasses so that he could pinch the bridge of his nose and stave off an upcoming headache.

 

The mission had been relatively simple, at least that was what the file Merlin had handed them a mere 24 hours ago had made it seem like. Now, Harry, in retrospect, saw where they went wrong with believing that. Really, he should have seen the mission not going as planned when Merlin said he would be going with Eggsy.

 

Not that Eggsy was a bad agent, far from such, but with the most recent events, they both weren’t inclined to be in the same room as the other for long periods of time unless absolutely necessary. And of course, Merlin had dubbed this mission as  _ absolutely necessary. _

 

All that needed to be done was for Eggsy to bug the entirety of one Zachary Herridge’s mansion while Harry shmoozed and distracted this Mr. Herridge during the party they were both to attend undercover. Things had started off just fine, Eggsy having had slipped away quietly in the middle of the festivities and having begun bugging the first few rooms. Harry had watched him climb the long, ornate stairs up to the next equally as painfully posh floor without anyone as so much as noticing. 

  
Things were quiet for awhile after that, Harry distracting Herridge and engaging in small talk with people he would much rather have punched straight in the face than force smiles with. He was talking to a rather thin, tall, greasy man with his tie rumpled enough that Harry thought his eye would start twitching when he got a distress signal from Eggsy through his glasses.

 

He had felt concern immediately, worried that the worst had happened and that Eggsy had been caught and was tied up somewhere with his legs and hands bound about to be tortured. With that thought in mind, Harry had politely excused himself from the admittedly boring conversation and had slipped away just as easily as Eggsy had and made his way up the stairs. He had followed the small map on the display of his glasses to where the red blinking dot that signified Eggsy’s whereabouts was and found himself in front of a door much like the other dark wooden ones in the hallway. It had been silent on the other side of the door, no signs or sounds of a struggle. 

 

Harry had pulled out his gun that was hidden seamlessly in his shoulder holsters beneath his tux jacket and cocked it. With the safety clicked off, he pushed open the door and immediately set his aim, waiting to take a shot at whatever target was threatening the mission. Only he hadn’t been met with an enemy target, instead he had saw Eggsy stood calmly beside a rather large and dark safe, one hand placed on the front of it. 

 

Harry had looked around the room, seeing no one visibly threatening Eggsy and stepped in closer, hand still on his gun, but no longer on the defensive. “Why did you send a distress signal?” 

 

“I didn't. Merlin did.” His jaw had been clenched, obviously annoyed that he was put in this situation, whatever it was exactly. 

 

“Oh?”

 

“ _ Gawain has accidentally placed his hand while bugging the room on the scanner of that safe. A scanner that will immediately alert everyone in the vicinity that someone has tried to open the safe,”  _ Merlin had supplied helpfully.

 

“I had it under control!” Eggsy had squawked, intensely frowning. He had looked frazzled with pink brushing on his cheeks, but most of all annoyed. Harry would have gone out on a limb and said he looked adorable, but right then probably wouldn’t  be the best time to acknowledge that, especially considering that all Eggsy had likely wanted to do was throttle him.

 

“ _ Bullshit,”  _ Merlin had replied, deadpan. 

 

Harry had sighed, clicking on the safety of his gun and putting it back in his holster. “So he can't remove it then or else the alarm will go off?”

 

“ _ Precisely.”  _

 

_ “ _ And I'm guessing you can't do anything from your position at HQ and need me to try to mess with the wires then to try and stop that from happening?” Harry had dared to take a step closer, already knowing what had to be done. 

 

“ _ I knew your test scores were high for a reason.”  _

 

Harry had bit back his own retort and began half circling the safe, looking for a point of attack. Eggsy was quiet as Harry looked around, staring angrily at his own hand where it was placed, as if it had wronged him personally. On the bottom left side of the safe, there had been a small panel and Harry had gotten to work, kneeling down and procuring his small tin of tools disguised as a metal cigarette holder from his breast pocket. He had easily popped off the cover, coming face to face with small wires.

 

“ _ Alright, see that red one there on the left? Cut it, it should shut off the safe completely without setting off the alarm. Just be careful to not touch anything else.” _

 

“Understood.” Harry had took the small pair of wire clippers and carefully did as he was told, snipping the wire easily. From where he was, Harry couldn’t see his face, but he had known Eggsy was probably as bored as he was annoyed, awaiting for the go signal to be able to finally remove his hand. With the wire snipped, Harry had stood up, the safe beside him audibly powering down, all blinking lights have shut off.

 

“Ah, there we go. Now, if we could go back to the party and-”

 

In that moment, the safe had powered back up, an alarm blaring through the entirety of the mansion, piercing and quickly creating a disturbance in the party downstairs, people audibly panicking and scattering.

 

“ _ Merlin.” _

 

“ _ It seems as though Harry touching that wire has set the alarm off by accident.” _ At least Merlin had the grace to sound sheepish.

 

“Fucking brilliant. Thank you for that, Merlin.” Eggsy had groaned, finally taking his hand off the safe and taking out his own gun from holster, Harry having followed suit.

 

“ _ Not my finest moments, I apologize.”  _ Merlin had paused, his keyboard clicking in the background and he cursed. “ _ Herridge is already coming up the stairs in one direction and security at the other. Do not engage and especially do not let them see your faces! We want to keep your covers as intact as possible and Herridge seeing you two where you shouldn't be certainly will not help that.”  _

 

“What do you suggest we do then?” Harry had eyed the door, waiting for men in ill tailored suits to burst through and start raining bullets. 

 

“ _ There’s a closet three doors down, get out quickly and duck in there and stay put until back up can come save your asses.”  _

 

Harry had dragged Eggsy out the room and into the said closet immediately, moving as quietly and swiftly as possible, with Eggsy muttering behind him about not needing his hand to be held,  _ thank you very much.  _ Once they were inside, Eggsy had shut the door tightly behind them and almost cursed at their sudden unwanted proximity to each other once he realized that the tip of his nose was well acquainted with the fabric on Harry’s shoulder. Harry had wanted to curse as well, not sure if Merlin had chosen this room on purpose or not, but either way Harry was getting payback and it was going to be glorious. 

 

So now here they were in this terribly uncomfortable position, struggling to keep their cool while waiting for Herridge’s goons to disperse and for someone to come get them so they could slip away quietly. Outside, there was still the commotion of the party that had gone wrong, guests filing loudly and quickly out of the mansion while guards and henchmen were barking out commands. 

 

“We should talk about it.”

 

“Nope.”

 

“ _ Eggsy _ .”

 

“Nope.”

 

“I hardly think that that’s very gentlemanly of you.”

 

“Don’t give a shit. The answer is still a big, fat  _ nope _ .”

 

“ _ You are both worse than two teenagers, I swear to everything holy and not in this damn world.” _

 

_ “ _ Merlin, if you would please,” Harry said at the same time Eggsy hissed through bared teeth, “Shut it, Merlin!”

 

“ _ Fine, but remember I’m not the one currently stuck in a closet.”  _

 

And there Merlin was right. He wasn’t the one stuck in a closet while toe to toe with the object of his affections. No, instead he was back at HQ probably smirking like the little shit he was while drinking his overly sweet and horrendously caffeinated cup of tea, the absolute _ bastard _ . 

 

Harry shifted the best he could, pressing himself further against the back wall of the unfortunately small closet, a broom digging in between his shoulder blades. Eggsy moved as well, pulling himself away from where his nose was practically pressed against Harry’s collarbone and leaned his weight to the bit of wall beside the door.

 

“I do think we should talk about it.”

 

“Do you really think that right fucking now is the best time to discuss what happened?” A section of hair started to flop of Eggsy’s forehead, another evidence of him being frazzled no matter how much he tried to keep neutral. 

 

“I think this is a good of time as any.”

 

“You’re such a sack of shit. I hope you know that.”

 

“I’m well aware.”

 

“ _ He is fully aware, he just likes riling people up.” _

 

“Are you actually doing your job and trying to get the guards away from us or are you just sitting back and listening to our conversation?” Harry asked, wanting nothing more to rip off his glasses and smash them against the wall. Not a feeling he was necessarily new to either. 

 

“ _ Well, I am your handler so part of my job  _ is  _ to listen to your conversation. Not to mention the fact that you’re openly having said conversation with your comms on, so there is that.”  _ A pause.  _ “By the way, Lancelot is inbound. ETA 5 minutes, you brats.” _

 

“Oh thank god.” Eggsy sighed, leaning his head against the wall and baring his neck. Harry tore his eyes away, focusing on Eggsy’s face. 

 

“That’s five minutes for us to talk.” He was pushing it, he knew as such, but if they didn’t do this now, he doubted they ever would. Eggsy was avoiding him and he just needed the chance to explain before there wasn’t the chance to anymore. 

 

Eggsy growled and Harry could see the shift of his muscles and bones as he clenched his jaw tight. “You wanna talk about it? Let’s fucking talk about it. You are a right fucking wanker, yeah? A right wanker who fucking  _ kissed the life out of me _ , apologized, and then walked away and pretended that it never happened!”

 

“I did try to explain afterwards, multiple times if I may add, but every time I did you refused to hear me out. I don’t blame you, of course. You are right about me being a ‘right fucking wanker’ and I am sorry for that.” And he was, extremely so, but Eggsy, of course, probably would need more convincing. 

 

Eggsy huffed, not giving Harry a straight answer so he took it as a chance to keep going. “The reason that I apologized and left is because I was frightened.” Harry’s voice was suddenly softer now, the cocky suaveness from moments ago long gone and replaced by a gentleness that ran sudden goosebumps up Eggsy’s arms. 

 

“The Great Harry Hart frightened? That’s almost blasphemous.” Eggsy retorted just as softly, the anger built walls he had up slowly coming down just at the fact that Harry had been scared. Harry’s heart warmed at that, continuing. 

 

“Yes, well, it does happen. I am only human after all.”

 

“Why were you frightened?” The question was practically mumbled, almost as if Eggsy was unsure whether he was welcomed to ask it or not. 

 

“Because I thought I had botched everything up between us — our friendship, our working relationship, all of it. I thought that I had forced myself onto you and I immediately regretted it so I ran away like a coward.”

 

“Harry.” Eggsy was suddenly closer now, purposely stepping into Harry’s space, his nose just touching the side of Harry’s, his breath ghosting on his lips. Harry, more than anything, wanted to reach out his hands and grasp Eggsy’s hips and just hold him there to relish in their intimate closeness. Yet, he didn't, closing his fists tight at his aides in order to keep himself for touching. 

 

“I do not want to force you into something you don't want because you think you owe me something.” He clenched his fists tighter. 

 

“Owe you something?” Eggsy pulled back a bit, allowing him to look directly into Harry’s eyes and give him an incredulous look. “I owe you so much for what you've done to change my life, but I didn't fall in love with you because I thought it would be some sort of sick a penance.” 

 

“You what?” Harry dared himself this bit of hope, something jumping in his stomach as he stared down at Eggsy who only looked back up at him with a shy smile. 

 

“I love you, you daft git.” And how he looked like he meant it, his cheeks dimpling as he smile widened. 

 

Harry took a deep, shaky breath, the want to allow a face splitting smile to cross his face, but also just as frightened he was the first time that he had dared to kiss Eggsy. “Forgive me, Eggsy, it’s been a long while since someone has caught my attention like you have. I suppose I didn't know how to react when my entire world fell out of place.” 

 

“So is that a ‘I love you too’ because I can't tell.” Eggsy, despite his cheeky remark and face full of bravado, had a timidness beneath it all, unsure and worried that he was painfully wrong. Harry wanted to wipe that away, not liking its place on Eggsy’s face. So, instead of giving an answer, he finally allowed himself to pull Eggsy closer and kiss him like he had been dying to do since that night that now seemed so far ago and irrelevant compared to the way Eggsy  _ melted  _ against him, clutching at the lapels of his jacket. 

 

“I love you too, you wonderful man.” 

 

“ _ Oh thank god, finally.”  _

 

“Unless it’s our backup that's finally here, I don't want a peep out of you, Merlin.” Harry not pulling away from Eggsy all together, but enough that he could reprimand Merlin. 

 

“ _ Fine, but don’t be shocked when you two are sent on unpleasant missions in their near future.” _

 

Eggsy started laughing against Harry’s chest, burying his face into the fabric while his shoulders shook, his hands still comfortably gripping at the tuxedo. “This is not how I imagined this going, if I’m being honest.”

 

“It’s better than Merlin actually being in the room, I suppose. But the broom closet I could do without.” 

 

“True, but who knows? Maybe if Merlin hadn’t told us to come in here we wouldn’t have gotten our shit together as soon.”

 

“I had to admit it, but that may be true.” 

 

Eggsy laughed again, grinning up at Harry like he was his entire world and that made Harry’s heart swell. This was dangerous what they were starting. Attachments weren’t ideal, especially in their line of work, but Harry couldn’t find it in himself to mind. He loved this boy with the golden hair and bright green eyes who looked at him with such unadulterated trust and hope. This was going to be the death of him if he had a say in it and he found didn’t mind that in the slightest. 

 

Perhaps instead of the initial revenge Harry had planned out for Merlin, he would be thanking the man instead and sending him a delightful fruit basket for good measure. In retrospect, this mission hadn’t been so bad after all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I know I said the next fic I was going to post was going to be a MASSIVE fix-it hartwin fic, buuuuut I have found myself at a standstill with it. I will definitely post it eventually, but I first need to get out of my slump concerning that fic. It'll grace AO3 in the near future. 
> 
> I do appreciate all you wonderful readers who take the time to read my stuff so I just wanted to take the time to say thank you! 
> 
> All comments and kudos are always welcome and appreciated!


End file.
